ABSTRACT
Recent research has shown that most (75%) of the recently emerging pathogens affecting man are zoonotic with viruses substantially contributing to this observed emergent phenomenon (Taylor et al., 2001). One of these viruses that emerged in Saudi Arabia before the end of the twentieth century is the Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV). It is a mammalian tick-borne avivirus genetically related to the Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV). Though AHFV may have existed unrecognized for years in the Arabian Peninsula, the rst recorded tick-borne mammalian avivirus in Saudi Arabia was Kadam virus: it was isolated from Hyalomma ticks collected from a dead camel in Thumaamah, about 70 km from the capital, Riyadh (Wood et al., 1982).
